When Somerset County Freeholder Patricia Walsh attended a conference in Washington last year with other elected officials from counties across the nation, many were perplexed by the title on her name tag.

“People were saying to me, ‘What’s a freeholder?’” Walsh remembered yesterday. “So I scratched out ‘Freeholder’ and wrote ‘County Commissioner’ instead. Then, they knew what my role was.”

She may never have to do that again.

The state Assembly may soon vote on a bill that changes the title of the elected officials who oversee county government from “freeholder” to “county commissioner” — a move that would affect all of the state’s 21 counties. Many officials say the term is outdated, offensive and confusing.

ANDOVER TOWNSHIP — A new local ordinance will keep legal payouts in the public eye — and put the township at the forefront of one facet of open government.

The “public reporting of civil judgments and settlements ordinance” — the first of its kind in New Jersey — was passed unanimously by the Township Committee Monday night.

The law requires officials to “make every effort to publicly announce the amount and terms” of lawsuit settlements and judgments against the township that result in public money being spent.

The ordinance was suggested by state open government activist Martin O’Shea, who passed away in December. O’Shea had suggested the model ordinance to Andover last summer, but the committee tabled it at the time, citing a lack of funds to advertise it in local newspapers.

Following a wait of several months, the operational audit of the Hoboken Police Department has now been released to the city. The audit makes recommendations for significant staffing cuts of approximately one-third of the force.

The report said the staffing needs for Hoboken Police Department are one chief, three captains, 12 lieutenants and 60 or 70 officers/detectives depending on the methodology applied. This determination reflects a staff reduction from 158 to 112 or 102 depending on the methodology applied, the report said.

President Obama could learn a lot about fiscal responsibility from New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie. The governor is making hard choices to close a $2.2 billion state budget deficit by freezing spending and erasing surpluses to meet current needs.

Mr. Christie is cutting money for schools, colleges, hospitals and the New Jersey Transit system - 375 line items total. He is removing noncitizens from the state health care system and canceling a jobs program that mainly created jobs for government bureaucrats. His cuts are intended to impose efficiency and accountability on government spending, concepts people generally do not associate with New Jersey politics.

A billboard blaming Mayor Brian P. Stack for unemployment, increased property taxes and problems in schools has been torn down; and the man who paid for it is claiming that Stack or someone from his  administration did it.

"Certainly not," said a spokesman from the mayor's office, refuting the allegations. "Mayor Stack encourages spirited debate of the issues," he said.

A federal jury yesterday convicted suspended Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini of taking $20,000 in bribes that prosecutors say she funneled into Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy's re-election campaign last year.

The 74-year-old Realtor and former burlesque queen showed no reaction as the jury foreman read the verdict convicting her on two of the six counts, but her daughter Bianca slumped in her seat in the packed courtroom yesterday afternoon.

Beldini is the first person to be convicted as a result of work done by FBI informant Solomon Dwek, who surreptitiously made audio and video recordings that resulted in 46 arrests last July, following a months-long probe into money laundering and corruption in New York and New Jersey.

State Sen. Raymond G. Lesniak and five other directors of an Elizabeth bank that collapsed last year borrowed more than $2 million in mortgages and commercial loans from the thrift, records show.

Some of those loans came after First BankAmericano was put under a July 2007 federal order to stop what authorities described as unsound banking and loan practices.

In a report filed before it collapsed in July 2009, the bank listed $11.4 million in "insider loans," a term used by regulators to track financing for bank employees, officers and key shareholders.

Eight former board members, including Lesniak and several others who got mortgage money from the bank, have also been political contributors to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, giving more than $50,000 since 1993, according to campaign-finance data.

Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey urged the Federal Reserve last July to approve an acquisition to save a struggling bank in his state. He didn't mention that the bank's chairman and vice chairman were big contributors to his political campaign.

If the acquisition had been approved, it would have prevented the two executives from losing what was left of their investments in the bank.

In his letter to the Fed July 21, Mr. Menendez said there was a strong likelihood that First BankAmericano, of Elizabeth, N.J., would fail in three days, which would "send yet another negative message to consumers and investors and further impact our fragile economy." The one-page letter, obtained by The Wall Street Journal under the Freedom of Information Act, urged Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to approve a sale of the bank to JJR Bank Holding Co. of Brick, N.J.

Stevens Institute of Technology President Harold Raveché, beset by allegations he accepted an exorbitant salary while improperly spending the school’s money, will resign in July, officials announced today. In addition, the school will submit to the state’s demands for increased financial oversight under a settlement agreement.

Attorney General Anne Milgram launched a 16-count lawsuit against the Hoboken school in September, alleging financial mismanagement and excessive compensation.

A Union City developer and former partner of FBI informant and admitted scam artist Solomon Dwek admitted today to conspiring to launder money as part of the federal sting operation that led to the arrests of several mayors, rabbis and other officials last July.

Shimon Haber, 34, of Brooklyn, also acknowledged a role in attempting to funnel money into the campaign account of an unnamed Union City elected official as part of an effort to gain approvals on a major real estate project he and Dwek had been pursuing on Palisades Avenue in Union City.

Court filings and campaign finance reports show the money went to an election campaign associated with Mayor Brian Stack. The mayor has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has declined repeated requests to discuss the matter.